Italy got the better of fellow 2010 UEFA European Futsal Championship finalists Serbia in two friendlies this week, drawing 1-1 before earning a 3-1 victory.


Menichelli pleased
Azzurri coach Roberto Menichelli, who succeeded Alessandro Nuccorini prior to qualifying, took the opportunity of Italy's first games since they clinched a finals place in March to blood some young players, his squad having an average age of 23. "I wanted to see some new faces in action, and I'm satisfied with what I saw," he said. "I wanted to see if it was possible to include new players in my project, and this was the perfect occasion. We're working hard to build the right team for the future. I wanted to experiment and from this point of view these two friendlies have been really useful."

Debrecen draw
Menichelli's side will be among the top tier of seeds for the finals draw at 16.00CET on 24 September at the Kölcsey Convention Centre, Debrecen, while Serbia will be in the second of the three four-team pots. The finals will be played from 19-30 January 2010 in Hungary.

uefa.com